Putin: Syria Will Only Cooperate if US Pledges Not to Use Force

Conditions
Middle East • Views: 21,884

Vladimir Putin, the new hero of the American right wing, is now trying to tie the Syrian chemical weapons deal to the US calling off a military strike.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that an agreement in which Syria would turn over its chemical weapons to international control would only work if the United States and its allies renounce the use of force against Damascus, RT.com reports.

[…]

Putin acknowledged that he had discussed such a possibility with President Obama on the sidelines of the G-20 summit last week in St. Petersburg.

It was agreed, Putin said, “to instruct Secretary of State [John Kerry] and Foreign Minister [Sergey Lavrov] to get in touch” and “try to move this idea forward.”

Putin fleshed out the proposal Tuesday, saying it would only work if Washington called off its strike against Damascus.

“Certainly, this is all reasonable, it will function and will work out, only if the US and those who support it on this issue pledge to renounce the use of force, because it is difficult to make any country - Syria or any other country in the world - to unilaterally disarm if there is military action against it under consideration,” Putin said on Tuesday.

Now that’s some quality Russian turn-speak! In reality, exactly the opposite is true — Assad never would have agreed to this without a looming US military strike, and that’s incredibly obvious.

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71 comments
1 jaunte  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:14:48am

“…it is difficult to make any country unilaterally disarm if there is military action against it under consideration..”
— Old Georgian Proverb

2 darthstar  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:15:01am

Hey Assad…give up the CW and we’ll talk.

3 b.d.  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:15:34am

Seems to me that everybody has about 5 hours to get this deal done.

4 Vicious Babushka  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:15:46am

What is this “oy vey” expression you are using Matt Barber?

5 darthstar  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:16:29am
6 FurryNavyDude  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:16:31am

This is what’s called an opening position in a negotiation…but at least we’re talking turkey now.

It’s all about the chemical weapons, and Russia has a very direct interest in getting control of them as well.

7 Bulworth  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:17:18am

re: #4 Vicious Babushka

an embarrassing, incompetent, international laughingstock

OK, but enough about the GOP….

8 piratedan  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:18:21am

re: #7 Bulworth

OK, but enough about the GOP….

those fuckers would claim that if Obama cured cancer he was waging war against Big Pharma….

9 dog philosopher  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:19:15am

i don’t suppose wingnuttia will ever give obama credit for the effectiveness of his threat on russia and syria

i find it gratifying to see that the president of the united states can still make the leadership of russia and syria squirm and plead

10 goddamnedfrank  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:19:21am

Off topic. I really like being the tenth downding that sends one of francis’s pages off the recent list. Nice feature that.

11 NJDhockeyfan  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:20:50am
12 Vicious Babushka  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:21:53am

Half the wingnuts on Teh Twitters are still Derping over OBAMA WANTS TO LAUNCH A WAR AGAINST SYRIA!!11!! while the other half are gloating HAHA THAT MANLY PUTIN SURE MADE BARRY LOOK LIKE A SISSY!!11!!!!

13 Vicious Babushka  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:22:56am

Pamela is a scofflaw.

14 Dr. Matt  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:24:07am

This really seems to be pissing off the teatards in pure comedic fashion:

15 darthstar  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:24:07am

Times are hard.

Bedfordshire retiree spoke out against a judge who had fined him $117 for shampooing his semi-erect penis on a bus. “I was treated,” the man said, “like a hardened criminal.”

More at link:

16 prairiefire  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:24:10am

Hilary Clinton’s statement yesterday, she already sounded like the President. I loved how she said ..”Secretary Of State John Kerry” ~ beat ~ beat ~ beat “and the Russians.”
Like she was spitting vinegar out of her mouth.

17 Pavlovian Hive Mind  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:25:07am

So many supporting authoritarian Putin over PotUS Obama.
Telling, that.

18 Targetpractice  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:25:27am

I don’t know why anybody thought this would be easy, that Russia and Syria would give it all up without much of a fight. This is about buying time.

19 Vicious Babushka  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:25:32am

re: #15 darthstar

Times are hard.

More at link:

[Embedded content]

I think you posted the wrong link.

20 thecommodore  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:25:49am

I have to wonder two things about this:

Maybe I’ve seen too many episodes of “The West Wing,” but was Obama actually paving the way for this to happen with his war threats, even if the war in question would be political suicide?

Or did Putin save Obama’s ass?

My hunch, for what it’s worth - a little bit of both.

21 lawhawk  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:26:22am

re: #13 Vicious Babushka

I put her in the same category as the Jews for Jesus nutters or the 9/11 conspiracy nutters who line Vesey Street from time to time. Real annoying and desperate for attention while the world goes on and shouldn’t be paying them attention.

22 Eclectic Cyborg  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:26:30am

Tomorrow is 9/11 folks. I hope you’re ready for all the Benghazi you can handle!

23 makeitstop  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:27:58am

re: #19 Vicious Babushka

I think you posted the wrong link.

No, it’s in there, all the way at the bottom of the page.

Line breaks would really help on that page.

24 jaunte  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:28:06am

re: #20 thecommodore

Putin gains if Assad’s chemical weapons are under control by someone other than the rebel groups.

25 piratedan  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:28:24am

re: #22 Eclectic Cyborg

Tomorrow is 9/11 folks. I hope you’re ready for all the Benghazi you can handle!

well I look forward to the parallels regarding an attack that involved multiple teams and years of planning to hijack airliners is exactly the same as four diplomats getting caught as targets of opportunity in a country just recovering from a civil war…..

26 Killgore Trout  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:29:51am

re: #18 Targetpractice

I don’t know why anybody thought this would be easy, that Russia and Syria would give it all up without much of a fight. This is about buying time.

…and there’s lots of time for sale. It’s cheap too.

27 lawhawk  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:30:40am

re: #22 Eclectic Cyborg

Sorry, but outrageous outrage would have raged against the President even if he personally led a mission to save Ambassador Stevens, used a TARDIS to save him and the other members of the consulate.

The military said that they couldn’t get assets in place to save the mission, and that they’ve now set up a quick reaction force to deal with these kinds of threats going forward.

Scandal? Nope. Just a sad reality that the Benghazi consulate wasn’t as well protected as it should have been, due in part to Congressional failures to fund State Department security operations.

But I wont be focusing on Benghazi tomorrow. I will be focusing on events across from my office. Here:

28 Kragar  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:31:14am

The bigger question: How much of the equipment for Syria’s chemical weapons program has Russian instruction manuals?

29 Vicious Babushka  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:31:24am

re: #25 piratedan

well I look forward to the parallels regarding an attack that involved multiple teams and years of planning to hijack airliners is exactly the same as four diplomats getting caught as targets of opportunity in a country just recovering from a civil war…..

OBAMA LEFT FOUR AMERICANS TO DIE!!!11!!! HOW DARE YOU COMPARE THIS TO THAT OTHER THING WITH AIRPLANES!!!111111!!

30 darthstar  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:31:26am

re: #19 Vicious Babushka

I think you posted the wrong link.

Same link - it’s a bunch of Harper’s “findings”

31 darthstar  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:32:18am

re: #22 Eclectic Cyborg

Tomorrow is 9/11 folks. I hope you’re ready for all the Benghazi you can handle!

Well, since nothing else ever happened on 9/11…

/

32 Vicious Babushka  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:32:30am

re: #30 darthstar

Same link - it’s a bunch of Harper’s “findings”

Oh. Because I was all like o_0

33 lawhawk  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:33:56am
34 Gus  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:34:42am

re: #29 Vicious Babushka

OBAMA LEFT FOUR AMERICANS TO DIE!!!11!!! HOW DARE YOU COMPARE THIS TO THAT OTHER THING WITH AIRPLANES!!!111111!!

Ugh. Guess that means a lot of BUSH ALLOWED 9/11 TO HAPPEN!! vs. OBAMA ALLOWED BENGHAZI TO HAPPEN!!

35 darthstar  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:34:58am

re: #33 lawhawk

[Embedded content]

But everyone’s still celebrating Putin’s schooling of Obama!

36 Killgore Trout  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:35:03am

re: #20 thecommodore

I have to wonder two things about this:

Maybe I’ve seen too many episodes of “The West Wing,” but was Obama actually paving the way for this to happen with his war threats, even if the war in question would be political suicide?

Or did Putin save Obama’s ass?

My hunch, for what it’s worth - a little bit of both.

Probably a bit of both. I think it’s also important to understand that there are no dummies or super-geniuses playing 11 dimensional chess with secret kung fu philosophy. Everybody knows the diplomacy dance is to kill time while maintaining the status quo.

37 b.d.  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:36:16am

re: #34 Gus

Ugh. Guess that means a lot of BUSH ALLOWED 9/11 TO HAPPEN!! vs. OBAMA ALLOWED BENGHAZI TO HAPPEN!!

NO!! 9/11 WAS BILL CLINTON’s FAULT!! DIDN’T U C MOVIE??!

38 lawhawk  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:36:33am

Syria has refused to declare its chemical weapons arsenal or sign the CWC for decades. It now decides to do so. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

It’s Assad’s attempt to try and avoid airstrikes by the US/France.

Russia may be putting the screws to Assad to do this, but Assad’s running out of things that he can do short of giving over the stockpiles unilaterally and handing over those responsible for the use of chemical weapons (if he hadn’t authorized them).

39 darthstar  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:36:39am
40 b.d.  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:37:35am

For the record people, Checkers is a harder game than most people seem to want to admit.

41 lawhawk  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:38:56am
42 b.d.  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:40:10am

I miss Yeltsin.

43 Targetpractice  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:41:19am

re: #38 lawhawk

Syria has refused to declare its chemical weapons arsenal or sign the CWC for decades. It now decides to do so. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

It’s Assad’s attempt to try and avoid airstrikes by the US/France.

Russia may be putting the screws to Assad to do this, but Assad’s running out of things that he can do short of giving over the stockpiles unilaterally and handing over those responsible for the use of chemical weapons (if he hadn’t authorized them).

And the bolded is what makes all the snickering from wingnuts about “leading from behind” and being “weak” so hilarious. Obama was the one ready to go to war with Syria, without Congressional approval, simply to deal with those chemical weapons. The suggestion that Russia and Syria have taken steps to address those weapons in spite of Obama’s threats is baseless.

44 makeitstop  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:41:50am

re: #28 Kragar

The bigger question: How much of the equipment for Syria’s chemical weapons program has Russian instruction manuals?

HRW identified the missiles as Russian, and even pin-pointed which shells would fit.

High explosive, white phosphorus, and chemical.

45 Killgore Trout  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:42:08am

re: #42 b.d.

I miss Yeltsin.

I miss Sarkozy. Watching Obama and Sarkozy goofing around really made me happy. G20 just wasn’t the same this year.

46 Vicious Babushka  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:42:56am

re: #34 Gus

Ugh. Guess that means a lot of BUSH ALLOWED 9/11 TO HAPPEN!! vs. OBAMA ALLOWED BENGHAZI TO HAPPEN!!

OBAMA JUST SAT THERE AND WATCHED THEM DIE AND THEN WENT TO SLEEP SO HE COULD GET UP EARLY AND FLY OUT TO VEGAS FOR GOLF & CAMPAIGNING!!11!!!!

BUSH FELT IN HIS HEART FOR ALL THOSE PEOPLE ON THE AIRPLANES AND IN THE TOWERS AND HE EVEN CRIED!!!11!!!!

47 Dr Lizardo  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:44:37am

re: #15 darthstar

Times are hard.

More at link:

[Embedded content]

Well, doesn’t everyone shampoo their half-chub on the bus?

48 Charles Johnson  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:45:10am
49 Dr. Matt  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:46:10am

re: #40 b.d.

For the record people, Checkers is a harder game than most people seem to want to admit.

Unless you’re a RWNJ who keeps eating the checker pieces.

50 thecommodore  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:46:14am

re: #29 Vicious Babushka

OBAMA LEFT FOUR AMERICANS TO DIE!!!11!!! HOW DARE YOU COMPARE THIS TO THAT OTHER THING WITH AIRPLANES!!!111111!!

OBAMA DIED AND PEOPLE DIED OBAMA IS TRYING TO WEAKEN THE UNITED STATES HE DOESN’T BELIEVE IN AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM AND HE WANTS THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD TO TAKE OVER REMEMBER HOW HE LET “MY MUSLIM FAITH” AND CLINTON CRONY GEORGE STEPONALLOFUS HAD TO CORRECT HIM???

51 Romantic Heretic  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:46:42am

re: #13 Vicious Babushka

Pamela is a scofflaw.

[Embedded content]

Of course she is. The law only applies to little people.

She, as the Great Crusader, is beyond such mere mortal concerns.

52 thecommodore  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:47:50am

re: #35 darthstar

But everyone’s still celebrating Putin’s schooling of Obama!

HE MADE HIM LOOK LIKE A MONKEY HAH LET’S SEE YOU PC LIBERALS GET YOUR PANTIES IN A WAD OVER THAT ONE ANN COULTER IS SO BRILLIANT!!!!!11TY

littlegreenfootballs.com

53 thecommodore  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:48:53am

re: #46 Vicious Babushka

OBAMA JUST SAT THERE AND WATCHED THEM DIE AND THEN WENT TO SLEEP SO HE COULD GET UP EARLY AND FLY OUT TO VEGAS FOR GOLF & CAMPAIGNING!!11!!!!

BUSH FELT IN HIS HEART FOR ALL THOSE PEOPLE ON THE AIRPLANES AND IN THE TOWERS AND HE EVEN CRIED!!!11!!!!

Wow, the wingnut font sure is getting a workout today, eh? :P

54 Bulworth  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:48:54am

re: #51 Romantic Heretic

She’s like MLK and other Civil Rights leaders except the Civil Rights movement was Communist and has been corrupted by blah peoples begging for free stuff. //

55 Vicious Babushka  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:49:51am

Derpin’ up a storm: (this is all on LNYHBT in the past 10 minutes)

56 b.d.  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:50:40am

re: #49 Dr. Matt

Unless you’re a RWNJ who keeps eating the checker pieces.

These mints suck

57 erik_t  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:50:53am

What does “lnyhbt” mean?

Look now, you hear bullshit tweeting?

58 Political Atheist  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:51:40am

Well I was driving for a couple hours and caught The Bull Rush, er I mean the Rush bull on this. Rush is treating this avoidance of war like a big defeat for the US, as part of some master plan Putin ran on us. Oh and we are no longer a factor in the ME. Now it’s all about Russia.

uh huh. People believe this garbage?

Seems to me this is a big win, if it pans out. if not Syria will still be there and our navy will still be out there.

Rush went so far as to call the chem weapons in Syria a “lend lease’ program like we had with the brits in WW2. “After we are irrelevant in the ME, Assad gets his weapons back”.

59 122 Year Old Obama  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:52:02am

re: #57 erik_t

Troubled hearts.

60 BongCrodny  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:52:03am
Vladimir Putin, the new hero of the American right wing

Starborschts.

62 darthstar  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:52:58am
63 lawhawk  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:53:18am

re: #48 Charles Johnson

Must have consequences - that could be Article VII consequences - military action, or something less, like sanctions or Article VIII regional actions.

Russia has apparently shown opposition to Article VII actions (they want to rule out military action by the US/France) but there are steps that could be take up to direct military action.

And we don’t need Russia to vote Yes on any resolution here, only enough to get an abstention from them and China. If that happens, then the resolution would pass the Security Council.

64 jaunte  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:53:31am

re: #57 erik_t

As Jesus said: “Let not your heart be troubled: make with the whining.”

65 Kragar  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:54:27am

To all Wingnuts,

Just because you don’t like the answers, it doesn’t mean there are still questions.

66 Dr. Matt  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:54:41am

Dubyah continuing his photo-op instead of scrambling interceptors on his 9/11 is completely acceptable to the RWNJs.

67 Gus  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:56:32am

The president should under no circumstances renounce use of force. Full stop.

68 lawhawk  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:57:57am


We’d probably not be here if Twitter existed during the Cuban Missile Crisis. One of the key steps to deescalation was the ability of the US government to ignore one of the messages sent to the US and responding to a different message.

Twitter would have made something like that impossible. Too many people carping on a single detail without ignoring the larger picture of nuclear Armageddon.

Reflections on the Cuban Missile Crisis should be required reading for any armchair pundit/politician/policymaker. We really did come that close to blowing up the world.

69 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 11:58:45am

Lost in all this are the 1400+ victims of this horrible attack by an authoritarian dictatorship who I refuse to see as simple “collateral damage”.

They’re hard to forget.

If Assad himself didn’t personally give the direct orders, his brother, Maher, a general and head of the Republican Guard, more than likely did. But will they suffer any consequences?

Maher al-Assad: The brutal enforcer of the family regime

itv.com

70 NJDhockeyfan  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 12:07:59pm

With the proposal from Russia to have Assad’s chemical weapons taken over there is the question of how? Last year there was this article in the NYT about how many troops it would take to seize control of those weapons. With terrorists in the area it won’t be easy.


This article is from November 2012.

From the link:

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has told the Obama administration that any military effort to seize Syria’s stockpiles of chemical weapons would require upward of 75,000 troops, amid increasing concern that the militant group Hezbollah has set up small training camps close to some of the chemical weapons depots, according to senior American officials.

The estimated size of the potential effort, provided to the White House by the military’s Central Command and Joint Staff, called into question whether the United States would have the resources to act quickly if it detected the movement of chemical weapons and forced President Obama, as he said in August, to “change my calculus” about inserting American forces into Syria. So far Mr. Obama has avoided direct intervention into the most brutal civil conflict to emerge from the Arab Spring uprisings, and the Pentagon assessment was seen as likely to reinforce that reluctance.

The White House on Thursday declined to comment on the Defense Department’s assessment.

71 Bulworth  Tue, Sep 10, 2013 12:08:31pm

re: #55 Vicious Babushka

Troubled hearts


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